


Nothing Left To Do But Stick With You

by missingnolovefic



Series: Witches and Familiars [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Banter, Familiars, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, lion!Jack, witch!Geoff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 16:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11970765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missingnolovefic/pseuds/missingnolovefic
Summary: Having recently passed his trials, freshly graduated witch Geoff is excited to start his sabbatical full of adventures and wonder. His familiar is a lion! He's destined for greatness!He's... bored as dicks with these menial, low-danger tasks. Why does Jack have to be such a goody-two-shoes?





	Nothing Left To Do But Stick With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Airri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airri/gifts).



> While taking place in the same universe as _Everything To Lose_ , this story can be read as a standalone. This takes place years before that other story.
> 
> For Airri, who jumped on the jackeoff dynamic in _Everything_. I hope this lives up to expectations :'D

“Geoff, what are- Geoffrey!” Jack yelped, jumping out of the way as stone crumbled and parted. “What the fuck.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Geoff snapped, his eyes narrowing in concentration. He muttered a spell under his breath and made a slashing motion with his hand. The top half of the rock split off and tumbled to the ground. “I’m trying to work here!”

“You’re just destroying random rocks!” Jack protested, crossing his arms with a frown. He glanced up at the sky and scrunched his nose. “Our task from the villagers can wait. We need to find shelter - there’s a storm brewing, and the next inn is more than a day’s travel away.”

“Storm, schmorm,” Geoff grumbled, inspecting the stone before shaking his head. “It’s not this one. Where’s the next?”

He looked up expectantly, and Jack scowled, his tail twitching agitatedly. He pointed to the East.

“That way. But I’m not going there. _I_ will be finding shelter while _you_ get drenched.”

“What, is kitty afraid to get his fur wet? Afraid of a little bit of water?” Geoff taunted, his hands forming a ball in the air. The wind picked up and carried the top back onto the stone, the broken edge mending. “I want to get this done today so we can move on to _real_ adventures.”

“Well, we’re not going to find the right leystone right away, so _excuse me_ for not wanting you to catch a cold,” Jack shot back. “Have fun finding rocks you can’t even sense while I find a dry place to stay.”

Geoff waved him off dismissively, and Jack left in a huff. He followed the leyline in the direction Jack had pointed out for him, pausing at every bigger stone and trying to feel if this what it. Geoff huffed, fed up that his familiar had to be such a stubborn asshole.

The rain came as a light drizzle at first, and Geoff wanted to laugh. _This_ was what had Jack in a tizzy? _Cats_.

By the time the wind had whipped up sleet and hail, Geoff felt less like laughing. Cursing, he muttered another warming spell, darting from tree to tree. Thunder rolled in the distance. The forest grew dark with clouds, and Geoff had trouble to see. Where did Jack say he was going? He’s pretty sure his familiar headed East when they’d split, but every rock he stumbled on looked the same to him. Geoff shivered, hunching his shoulders. The rain came down in sheets, the heavy canopy barely offering any protection under the onslaught.

Finally, Geoff gave up. He found a thick tree and huddled down between its roots. Mumbling a half-hearted drying spell under his breath that only got rid of some of the dampness, Geoff slumped into himself.

This wasn’t how he’d imagined his sabbatical.

He’d been thrilled when he’d finally passed the witch exams, having failed them thrice in a row. His teachers called him impatient and reckless, but Geoff didn’t care. He wanted to see _the world_. To travel and have adventures and maybe save a princess, though even he had to admit that last one was a bit fantastical. He’d been itching to get out of their small, isolated community.

And then a _fucking lion_ stepped up to be his familiar. A _lion_. How fucking awesome is _that_?

Except Jack turned out to be a fucking stubborn scaredy-cat. Always so fucking reasonable, and opinionated, and boring, and bull-headed, and such a worrywart, and always questioning Geoff’s decisions even as he went along with them only to be able to say _I told you so-_

And kind, and caring, and with a great sense of humour, and fuck it, but he should be here all quietly gloating and telling Geoff _I told you so_ because even though Geoff will never admit it Jack was right. He should have listened, but in his own stubborn way he’d ignored his familiar and driven him off and now he was wet and going to freeze to death and-

“Geoff?” a voice called in the distance, and his head snapped up. That sounded like…

“Jack?” he croaked, then cleared his throat. “Jack!”

“Geoff!”

Branches snapped underfoot, and Geoff scrambled up, looking around wildly. The noise came from somewhere to his right, but he couldn’t see anything in the cloud-dark dusk. He listened closely, squinting into the dim forest. There! Was that a humanoid shadow, or was he imagining things?

“Jack?” he called hesitantly, rooted in place. His heart beat faster. What if this was a stranger? Would Jack be in lion form? But Jack had called out to him, and it sounded distinctly human - he hadn’t talked much with his familiar in his animal shape, Jack preferred to appear human so as not to scare any travellers they might meet. Would he sound much different as a lion? Geoff never paid it much attention-

“There you are, idiot,” Jack rumbled, the looming figure stepping up to him. Geoff slowly relaxed. “You’re all wet.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Geoff muttered, hugging himself. It was really fucking cold. “Come to gloat, asshole?”

“I was worried, asshole,” Jack shot back. He was frowning down at Geoff, adjusting his glasses. “Come on. I found a cave back there and gathered enough wood to get a fire going.”

“Fine,” Geoff snapped, teeth chattering. A fire sounded awesome, but like hell was he gonna admit that. The trek back to the cave was silent, Geoff following Jack through the trees sullenly.

Jack seemed to have found an empty bear cave, though Geoff trusted the lion’s nose that it was currently unoccupied. He dropped his sopping wet backpack next to Jack’s impeccably dry one.

“You should get out of those wet clothes,” Jack suggested mildly, and Geoff’s gaze snapped to him. His familiar was staring at the ground where he was arranging bark, dry leaves and twigs in an orderly pile. “You’re going to catch a cold if you stay like that.”

Geoff grit his teeth but complied because Jack was making sense. Damn lion.

By the time he’d peeled off his pants, Jack managed to get a small fire going. It wasn’t much, more smoke than flame, but hopefully the bigger logs would catch soon. Jack watched curiously as Geoff scooted as close to the fire as he could without getting burned, shivering.

“Why aren’t you using a spell to dry off?” he inquired, blinking once, slowly. Geoff ducked his head, rubbing his arms.

“I’ve kinda… exhausted my magic,” he admitted hesitantly, before quickly adding, “Maybe.”

He glanced at Jack from the corner of his eyes, but his familiar just hummed noncommittally in acknowledgement.

“You know how to tend a fire though, right?”

Geoff frowned, giving Jack an amused look. “Of course I fucking know how to make a fire! Or how to keep it going! What are you-”

He trailed off as Jack pulled off his shirt, dropping it in Geoff’s lap.

“You need it more than me,” Jack explained drily, shimmying out of his pants, too, and Geoff averted his eyes, blushing.

“But what about yo- Oh.” Geoff stared at the lion brushing up against him blankly, then huffed. “Okay. Fine.”

The lion stretched, ears twitching, before the huge animal curled up next to Geoff, nudging his thigh until Geoff sighed and pulled on the borrowed clothes. Jack rumbled something that might have been a purr or a chuckle. Geoff wasn’t sure - he hadn’t spent much time with Jack in his lion form.

He hesitantly reached out to pet Jack’s head, scratching lightly behind his ears. The lion leaned into the touch, bumping his head up against his palm.

Between the fire, the borrowed clothes and the lion cuddling up with him, Geoff warmed up quickly, and soon he stopped shaking. His fingers trailed absently through through the lion’s fur before getting stuck in a tangle. Geoff glanced down curiously. Jack had a full mane, but there were some twigs and leaves knotted into a mess. Huh. He must have transformed and run through some serious underbrush- maybe to find this cave?

“Sorry for earlier,” Geoff blurted out. The lion glanced up at him, tail swishing curiously. Geoff flushed, restless fingers dancing through Jack’s mane. He might as well take care of the mess.

“I was being a bit of a stubborn asshole,” he admitted, pulling a twig carefully out of a tangle, before carding out the knot. “I should have listened to you.”

The rain fell down in a heavy pitter patter just outside the cave, accompanied with a roll of thunder. Geoff looked up and stared into the dark night.

“Dunno what I would do without you, buddy,” he continued lightly, voice wavering. A kernel of ice bounced into the cave, easily as big as his thumb. “Go on. Say _I told you so_.”

“I told you so.” This time the rumbling was definitely laughter. Jack dropped his chin on Geoff’s thigh and stared up at him. “And you’d probably be freezing your ass off right now.”

Geoff huffed. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”

They sat in silence for a long moment, Geoff staring into the fire with a frown, hands absently picking leaves from the lion’s fur.

“Hey, Jack?” he asked finally, voice subdued. The lion twitched his ears in Geoff’s direction. “Sorry for being stubborn as dicks. Taking care of me isn’t really what you signed up for.”

“Isn’t it?” Jack returned evenly. “I could have sworn that was part of the oaths during the bonding ceremony.”

Geoff snorted. “Maybe. I never asked what you wanted, did I? I just assumed you were in it for the adventure. Being a lion and all.”

Jack remained quiet after he trailed off. Geoff started finger-combing his mane, feeling uncomfortable with the stretching silence.

“Are you disappointed?” Jack asked hesitantly, resolutely not looking up at him. Geoff stared down in bafflement. “That I’m not… brave and adventurous and stuff. More lion-y.”

“I don’t think you could be more lion-y than you are right now, buddy,” Geoff returned drily. Jack’s tail twitched uncertainly.

“But I’m not what you expected,” Jack pointed out flatly. Geoff paused, fingers dropping from the lion’s fur.

“Maybe. But then, none of this is really like I expected at all,” Geoff confessed. He leaned away from Jack, grabbing one of the logs to add to the fire.

“Do you regret it? The bond?” Jack asked, and there was something weird about his voice. Geoff glanced back at him, finding the lion had sat up, shifting his weight from paw to paw. He seemed sad, somehow. Unsure.

“I don’t,” Geoff assured him, giving his familiar a crooked grin. Then, feeling a surge of uncertainty, he tacked on, “Do you?”

“No,” Jack promised, and he started kneading the ground. “I chose you, dumbass. I’ve watched each of your trials and still picked you.”

“Shut up.” Geoff’s cheeks grew hot, and he averted his gaze, hoping the blazing fire would explain away his flushed face.

“Even the failures, and boy, did you fail spectacularly,” Jack drawled teasingly, and Geoff buried his face in his palms.

“No more scritches for you, you big meanie,” he threatened, and the lion snorted. Geoff glared at him through his fingers and took one hand off his face to point at him. “I mean it! See if I don’t!”

Jack stretched, before gently placing a paw on Geoff’s thigh. The witch glanced at him and grimaced.

“Oh no. No, no, no, no. Stop it,” he demanded, only for Jack to nuzzle closer. “No. No puppy dog eyes allowed. You’re a cat, for fuck’s sake.”

Jack kept staring at him with big, soulful eyes until finally, Geoff caved.

“Oh, alright, fine. Geez,” he muttered, moving to scratch Jack behind the ears’. The lion rumbled contentedly. “You’re a big lug, you know that?”

The rain continued splattering the cave entrance, with the occasional lightning to illuminate the forest. At least the sleet and hail had calmed down, Geoff mused, a heavy lion’s head in his lap. He yawned, blinking tiredly into the fire.

“Hey, Jack?” he asked quietly, and the lion hummed in response. “You mind if I use you as a pillow tonight?”

Jack sighed, lifting his head from his lap. “Fair’s fair, I suppose.”

They rolled up together next to the fire, Geoff’s head coming to rest just below Jack’s shoulder. The fur was soft and comfortable, and Geoff’s eyes started drooping between the warmth and the exhaustion. Still, there was one more thing on his mind.

“Hey Jack?” he mumbled, cheek smushed into the fur.

“Yes, Geoff?” the lion asked patiently, chest rising and falling gently under Geoff’s head. “What is it, buddy?”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Geoff admitted quietly, then yawned. It took him a moment to realize that the soft vibrations under his ear were the lion’s purring.

“I’m glad you’re here, too,” Jack returned softly. Geoff closed his eyes and smiled.

Maybe… Maybe taking things a little slower wasn’t a bad idea. There’d be a princess to rescue some day. He could wait. It didn’t have to be tomorrow. Not like they’d find a kidnapped princess in a forest in the back-end of nowhere.

...probably.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3 if you liked it, I'd love to hear from you! Either here or on [my tumblr.](http://miss-ingno.tumblr.com/tagged/ingno-writes/)


End file.
